Milwaukee County

Milwaukee County call center crippled by overload

Though designed to cut through red tape families encounter when seeking food stamps, child care and medical help, Milwaukee County's troubled public assistance call center has become a focal point of frustration.

Many calls there still go unanswered as county officials squabble over how best to fix the operation that limps along with a skeleton staff of county case workers.

The center was supposed to be one of County Executive Scott Walker's best hopes this year to show progress on outsourcing government work to private firms. But Walker barely eked out approval for that in the county's 2009 budget and needs further support from a skeptical County Board.

Seven call center workers were on duty last week, fielding calls in a sea of mostly empty cubicles designed for 24 employees at the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center, 1220 W. Vliet St. Resignations, transfers and a county hiring freeze have slimmed the roster.

A supervisor's computer screen showed the number of callers on hold hovering at 85 or 90 at one point. That's about average, but the number rises at times, said Felice Riley, the program's administrator. If more than 100 callers are on hold, the rest get busy signals.

One study found that out of a million calls placed every month, only about 100,000 callers get through to a worker. County supervisors say they each get a handful of calls a day from people angry or desperate for assistance complaining their calls to the center don't get answered. A federal lawsuit says clients in need aren't getting the benefits they deserve.

"Milwaukee County has reached a low point in its (public aid) delivery service," Pat DeLessio, a Legal Action of Wisconsin lawyer suing the county, said in a letter to the County Board. "It is almost impossible to get through to anyone on the phone" to apply for or verify benefits.

Cathy Kunze of West Allis said she hit a roadblock with her own health benefit renewal when she couldn't get through to anyone at the call center and was disconnected after waiting for 30 minutes. She was eventually able to work out her problem, but she said she has often encountered similar problems when acting as a volunteer ombudsman for senior friends.

"The impacts are horrible," Kunze said, noting some who deserved benefits gave up trying.

Tackling deficiencies

Said Corey Hoze, director of the county Department of Health and Human Services: "If you ask the average guy on the street, (the center) is not working. We are not able to handle the volume. It's just not functioning."

Hoze helped line up a partnership between IMPACT, a private agency that also runs the separate 211 social services hotline for the county, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to take over the call center for $2 million in 2009.

The center would have about 30 workers - more than triple the current slate. Unlike other privatization efforts Walker attempted in the 2009 budget, his call center plan did not include any savings. That's because the remaining county employees would likely transfer to other vacant economic support specialist jobs.

In a sense, the plan is on life support. The County Board first removed the call center privatization from the budget, but Walker roughly recreated it through extensive use of his partial veto. Eight of the board's 19 members voted to sustain Walker's veto last month, the bare minimum necessary.

Walker said he'll try to proceed with a contract this month, but for that he'll need at least 10 votes from the 19-member board. A separate board vote on the contract is necessary because the cobbled budget language wasn't specific enough, county Corporation Counsel William Domina said.

Walker said to win the extra votes, he can compromise on some of the plan's details, such as the start date, but not the basic outsourcing concept.

"If people just don't want it contracted out, there's not a good way to appease that," Walker said. He wants the call center privatization to get more bang for the county's buck, Walker said.

Under Walker's plan, some two dozen IMPACT workers would be paid about $27,000 a year to start, or $6,000 less than a county worker's starting pay. Another 10 UWM School of Continuing Education employees would earn about a $42,000 a year. That's $4,000 more than the top county pay for call center workers.

The UWM employees were included in the deal to meet a federal requirement.

Critics on the board remain unconvinced. Supervisor Toni Clark said she is concerned the IMPACT employees would be little more than glorified phone messengers passing complaints to the UWM employees. That's just adding a layer of bureaucracy, Clark said.

Hoze said the IMPACT workers could handle all parts of the case work except confirming benefit eligibility. The UWM workers would do that. He provided a copy of an e-mail in which a federal food stamp official OK'd the county's privatization setup.

Clark said she prefers hiring more county case workers to handle a surge in benefit applications.

Walker said he won't agree to simply hire more county workers to fill vacancies. His plan helps the county stretch its property tax dollars at a time when state money is likely to shrink, he said.

State support for administering benefit programs was frozen in the late 1980s and cut significantly three years ago. Walker said he sees no hope for a turnaround any time soon.